Silently, Kibum unlocked his phone and pulled up the message. It was from Jonghyun. Kibum could feel his ears heat up a bit. Every time he’d been around Jonghyun, or even really thought about him since that day the older boy was at his house, he’d begun blushing uncontrollably. Minho thought it was hilarious. It’d taken him a couple days to get Kibum to tell him what happened, but when he found out, he couldn’t stop giggling. It was the first time that Minho had such an advantage over Kibum, that Kibum felt so very vulnerable and out of control. So Minho decided the best thing for it was to become a matchmaker of sorts for these two older boys.

“Just found out, I got the job. Thanks for your help”

That was all the message said. No punctuation after the last sentence. What was that supposed to mean? Was it just a “eh thanks I guess” or was he actually thankful? Did he normally not use punctuation correctly, like Minho? But he’d used the comma correctly. Unless that comma was also wrong and it was just supposed to be a straight sentence with no pause.

“Mr. Kim.”

Not thinking, Kibum immediately stood, knocking his chair sideways into the aisle, the clatter startling everyone in the room.

“I’m sorry, ma’am!” His eyes met with the teacher’s and he realized she looked genuinely shocked. Then, his eyes traveled around the room and he realized every other person in this room was staring at him like he’d just stepped on a puppy’s paw. Minho’s expression told Kibum exactly what he needed to know. He hadn’t been caught, he’d been asked a question, and this was definitely the wrong response.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, I didn’t hear the question.” Now the teacher was scowling at him. As expected, the teacher asked to see him after class in the teacher’s room. He was embarrassed, but he knew he should be in trouble. Normally he never let himself get so distracted in class, but his brain currently couldn’t not analyze everything about this text from Jonghyun.

“Good thing that is the mildest teacher in the world. She didn’t even ask notice I had my phone out.” Kibum and Minho headed downstairs together, Kibum telling the younger what had transpired in the teacher’s lounge while he’d waited.

“Why the heck did you do that, anyway?” Minho asked, holding the door open at the bottom of the stairwell and letting this friend through first. They turned left and headed up the corridor towards the back of the building. They always took this shortcut, walking through the school garden rather than down the concrete path.

“I was just distracted by a text is all.”

“A text from who? What did it say?” When Kibum didn’t respond, Minho stopped dead in his tracks and gave an exaggerated gasp, throwing his hand over his agape mouth. “No way! Was it God???”

Kibum didn’t even pause. “You’re such an idiot.” Minho skipped forward to catch up, pulling on Kibum’s bag to slow him down.

“Let me see the text. You owe me.” Which was true. Minho had made up an excuse to the teacher that Kibum didn’t get much sleep the night before because of a family gathering they’d had to go to, so that’s why he’d been so unfocused in class. It was all a lie, of course, but it worked.

Kibum heaved a sigh, pulling his phone out of his pocket and passing it to his friend. He waited for the few seconds it took Minho to read the message, then immediately started walking towards the campus exit. He knew what Minho would say, and he was already a bit embarrassed by his reaction in class. He didn’t want Minho to see his face.

“That’s it?” Minho called from behind him, jogging slightly to try to catch up. When Kibum didn’t pause to let him, the taller boy held back slightly, trailing behind but still curious.

“Why’d you freak out over this? It doesn’t seem like anything important, really.”

“I didn’t freak out.” Kibum kept walking, but his stiff movements made it clear that he was uncomfortable. Minho quickened his steps to actually catch up, and this time Kibum let him. When they were shoulder to shoulder, Kibum let out a big sigh and dropped his head.

“I just… I just over thought it, okay?”

“What do you mean?”

Kibum hesitated. He reached up and pressed the palms to his eyes, slowly dragging his hands over his head, his fingers combing thought his hair before reaching the back of his neck and squeezing slightly. Then he dropped his hands and sighed again.

“That’s really what I mean. I was just overthinking it and stopped paying attention to class. It’s stupid.” Kibum pursed his lips and crossed his arms over his chest. Then he met eyes with Minho and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s whatever. Let’s go home.”

He started walking again, and Minho watched him for a moment before following behind. He knew Minho would take the hint, would know that he didn’t want to talk about it in depth. Minho was good at catching when was okay to tease Kibum and when not. This was one of the not times and to Kibum’s satisfaction, Minho lengthened his strides until they were next to each other and casually handed Kibum back his phone. He stuck his thumbs behind his backpack straps and took the lead to the bus stop, adding a little bounce to his step that made Kibum smile.

.....................................

An hour later found Kibum and Minho sitting at the dining room table in Minho’s house. Papers and books were strewn around the table as the two boys worked on their homework. For the most part it was quiet, light classical music playing softly over the house speakers mounted in the ceiling. Papers would occasionally rustle as one of the boys searched through them to find the detail they needed to complete the question, and then back to the low sound of pencil scribble and tapping of laptop keys. Minho was working on an essay and Kibum on his own math homework, but they simply enjoyed each other’s company. This was their ideal way of doing homework, especially since Minho’s dad had installed the speakers.

Minho’s phone buzzed on the table, and he picked it up.

“Hmm…” he hummed quietly to himself, taking the phone in both hands and tapping lightly on the screen with his thumbs. A faint smile played on his lips.

“What?” said Kibum, his head leaned on his arm as he tapped the tip of his pencil on a seemingly impossible math problem.
“Jinki is coming over...” He paused as he tapped the phone a few more times with his thumbs, then placed it back on the table and turned back to his laptop. “…and he’s bringing Jonghyun.”

Kibum’s eyes flicked quickly up to Minho’s face, but Minho paid him no mind. He looked back at his homework.

“Oh? What are they doing?”

“They both got out of class early. So, Jinki wanted to know if I could hang. I told him what we’re doing and he said he’d be right over.” Minho furrowed his brow. “Wait… does he think I can’t do this on my own?”

Kibum looked up at Minho again and chuckled softly.

“Any excuse to see his baby, you know.”

Minho met his eyes and pursed his lips, glaring cutely at his friend. Kibum laughed and sat up, stretching his arms above his head. His eyes passed over the papers and book in front of him and he sighed.

“Do you think Jinki knows how to do this?”

“Yes.” Minho was back working on his paper, and he answered immediately. It made Kibum chuckle again. Perhaps some people would have been jealous of how much Minho looked up Jinki when it came to academics, but Kibum didn’t mind. Jinki was smart. Not only book-smart, but he knew how to read people and work with them to help them achieve success, as well. That was proven by his students’ exam scores.

Kibum stood up and walked to the kitchen. He retrieved two glasses from the cupboard and filled them with cold water from the fridge. He returned to the dining room and placed a cup in front of himself and Minho, just as the doorbell rang. Minho looked towards it, confused.

“Is that them already? He just texted me a few minutes ago!”

“I’ll get it.”

Kibum stood back up and strode to the door. As he pulled the heavy door open, he was greeted by a very cute sight. Apparently Kibum had been quite focused on his homework and didn’t notice that as steady rain was happening outside. In front of Kibum now stood Jinki and Jonghyun, both lightly wet and laughing, their hair a mess and drops of water decorating their cheeks and noses. Kibum couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh, Kibum!” Jinki’s sunshine smile turned towards the younger boy.

“Come in, it’s raining!” Kibum stepped aside and hurried both of the older boys over the threshold. Minho appeared in the doorway to the dining room and Jinki’s smile seemed to somehow shine even brighter.

“Why are you all wet?” Minho spoke as quickly closed the distance between Jinki and himself. He took hold of Jinki’s t-shirt sleeve between his fingers and Jinki glanced at it before looking back at Minho’s face.

“It’s raining.” It was nice that his tone was so happy, and not as if it were an obvious statement.

“It’s raining?” Again, Minho looked confused, but now so did Jinki.

“Yes… How else do you think I got wet?” Jinki looked bemused as he now stated the obvious to a dumb question.

Minho paused as he considered what he’d said. Rather than answering, he seemed to change directions.

“How’d you get here so fast? If you’d just left school, you’d still be 30 minutes away.”

Jinki’s face suddenly fell a bit and he began to look sheepish, his hand traveling up to rub the back of his neck. “Well…” He glanced at Jonghyun for a second before looking back down at the floor. “We were… most of the way here when I messaged you…”

“You were just coming over without asking first?” Minho looked fairly bewildered now. This apparently had never occurred to him.

“Is that bad? I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.”

Kibum suddenly grabbed Minho by the arm and pulled on it. “You can’t let your mom know that!” His voice was panicked, mirroring the look now on Jinki’s face. “If she finds out, she’ll be ecstatic! Do you remember what she did the first time Minseok’s girlfriend did that!”

Minho’s eyes widened and he turned back to Jinki, this time taking Jinki’s hand into both of his own and giving him a pleading look. “Please,” he said, “Whatever you do, do not tell my mom you did that! Just say I invited you over like… an hour ago! Yeah! And that I just forgot to tell her! Okay?”

“O….kkkaayyyy….” Jinki looked so confused, and his face appeared to flush pink slightly, which Kibum secretly found incredibly funny. Minho immediately began to pull Jinki into the dining room, and then Kibum remember Jonghyun. His own soulmate, who stood there next to the closed door, still covered in raindrops.

“So… what happened to Minseok? And also, who is Minseok?”

Kibum stepped towards the older boy and began to lightly brush the rain out of Jonghyun’s hair, pulling his long sleeves up onto his palms and dabbing the small drops off his face. “Minho’s older brother.”

Jonghyun stayed very still, though still trying to get Kibum to look him in the eye, staring at him as if he hoped it would happen by sheer willpower. Kibum refused. He was too close and he knew if he looked the older boy in the eyes, he’d become stupid again. Instead, he focused on each tiny drop on Jonghyun’s skin, and when those were gone, he used his fingertips to lightly tousle the wet out of his hair. It was a peaceful moment, but was interrupted when Jonghyun finally spoke again.

“Is he cute?”

Kibum paused and thought about his answer. “… Minho says Minseok is better looking than him.”

“What about you?”

“I am definitely better looking than Minho.”

Jonghyun started, and then chuckled when he understood what had happened. He changed his wording.

“I meant, do you think he’s better looking than Minho?”

“Ohhh…” Kibum put on a show of feigning ignorance, before becoming serious again. “No, I think Minho is the better looking of the two.”

All the water was adequately dispersed now, so Kibum dropped his hands, and then he didn’t know what to do with his eyes. He couldn’t really look Jonghyun in the eyes while talking about this. Normally, Kibum would be very confident when talking to people, but this was different. He could see Jonghyun moving around a little to try to catch his eyes, to make him look at him, but the refused again.

“What about me?”

Kibum saw the opportunity, and he took it.

“I don’t know about you? You’ve never seen Minseok, how could you already know which was better looking between him and Minho.”

And with that, Kibum swiftly turned to walk back to the dining room, smiling to himself as he heard Jonghyun chuckle again. Unexpectedly, he felt a firm hand clasp around his forearm and hold him back. He was moving so swiftly however, that the force of the pull on his arm swung him around and now he was face-to-face with the older boy, staring straight at him. Jonghyun’s eyes were gentle and happy, and there it was. It was very light, almost indistinguishable from the light in the room, but there was the golden glow again. Kibum gasped, both at the glow and the proximity, and quickly took a small step back.

Jonghyun’s eyes darted up and down him as he moved backward, and then he raised his left hand, finally drawing attention to what it held. A small drink holder with two drinks.

“Jinki was getting one for Minho, and… it’s raining, ya know? So, I got you a hot chocolate.”

Kibum blinked at him, not knowing how to respond. The older boy carefully pulled one of the cups from the carrier and offered it to Kibum, who took it. His eyes traveled back and forth between the cup in his hands and the man in front of him. Quietly, he said “Thank you.”

That smile spread across Jonghyun’s face again, the one that made Kibum’s cheeks tinge pink.

“You’re wel…”

“YOU’RE PHONE’S RINGING, BUMMIE!” Minho was unnecessarily loud. Kibum was going to make him pay for that later, but now he used it as his chance to escape. He whirled around and scurried back into the dining room, placing his new drink next to his untouched glass of water, and picking up his phone. Taemin’s name flashed across the screen, so he quickly answered.

“Hey, Tae…”

“YOU GUYS ARE HAVING A PARTY WITHOUT ME.”

“Uhh…” Kibum glanced around at the other boys in the room, including Jonghyun who had followed him, now very confused as to what this party was that Taemin was yelling at him about. “No??”

“Are you, or are you not, with Jinki, Minho, and Jonghyun at Minho’s house?”

Again, Kibum’s eyes travelled around the room to the other boys. “Yyyeessss?”

“And is music playing?”

Kibum was only getting more confused as each question was asked. “Yyess???”

“And is there food and drinks?”

“I mean, strictly speaking, we *are* at Minho’s house, so there’s always going to be food.”

“Oh my g… is that Taemin???” Jinki looked incredulously at Kibum, who silently nodded.

“YOU’RE HAVING A PARTY WITHOUT ME??”

“HOW DID YOU KNOW THERE WAS MUSIC?”

“OF COURSE THERE’S MUSIC, KIBUM, IT’S A PARTY!”

“Give me the phone give me the phone give me the phone!” Jinki now stood directly in front of Kibum, gesturing very quickly, and Kibum automatically handed it to him.

“No no no no no, Taemin it’s not a party!” Jinki turned his back on the other three, as if that would make it so they couldn’t hear his conversation. Unfortunately for him, Taemin wasn’t done shouting and the others heard every word.

“JINKIIIIIII!!!! YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO BE HOME AT 6 AND NOW YOU’RE NOT AND YOU KNOW ALL HE DOES IS CRY WHEN YOU’RE NOT HERE!”

Jinki paused. “Wait… are you mad that you think we didn’t invite you to a party, or are you upset because the dog is still doing that?”

At the word dog, Kibum’s ears perked up and he stepped closer to Jinki. Turning his head to get a better listen, his face was now pointed at Minho, who was already giving him a death glare.

“Both?” Taemin said hesitantly. “Come on, Jinki, he’s just a puppy, and you know how frustrating this is for me.”

Kibum’s eyes lit up, while Minho began softly shaking his head no. Kibum mouthed “Puppy!!!” at him, and Minho’s head shaking became more intense. Kibum clasped his hands and mouthed “Please!”. Minho crossed his arms and mouthed “No!” Kibum pouted and slumped his shoulders. He made himself look as sad as possible. He looked at Minho and held up one finger, meaning “just this once?”. Minho clenched his jaw, but finally he sighed and said out-loud “Fine. But you’re the one dealing with it.”

Jinki turned around, confused as he didn’t see the entire interaction between the two younger boys and thought the words were directed at him. As he did so, Kibum plucked the phone from his grip and spoke into it.

“Bring the dog.”

.....................................................................

For the next 30 minutes, Kibum sat on the living room couch, bouncing slightly in excitement as the waited for Taemin and the puppy to arrive. Jonghyun stood in the doorway between the dining room and living room, just chuckling and watching Kibum. Jinki and Minho sat in the dining room, Minho doing his own homework, and Jinki being perplexed by the math problem that had previously had Kibum stumped.

“Kibum, this book is wrong! This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Great!” Kibum wasn’t really listening. Jinki had been doing that for a while, now. Apparently, it was unfathomable that a textbook could be wrong.

“So, you like dogs?” Jonghyun’s words drifted into Kibum’s ears and he turned to look at the older boy.

From the dining room, Minho laughed. “Like dogs? Ha! Understatement of the year!”

“Dogs are perfect, good babies and can do no wrong.” Jonghyun had to laugh at the way Kibum stared him down so seriously as he spoke. He nodded his head in agreement.

“I agree with you. I’d like a dog, but I’m waiting until the right time for it, ya know?”

Kibum pursed his lips and nodded understandingly, then turned back to face the front door again.

At the sound of the doorbell, Kibum launched himself toward the door and wrenched it open.

“Puppy!!!” he shrieked happily! “Gimmie!”

Taemin let out an exasperated huff and let Kibum scoop the small spaniel mix out of his arms. “I hope you have better luck with him than I’m having. No matter what I do, it’s like I’m just not good enough for him. All he wants is Jinki.”

There was an odd scuffling sound suddenly, coming from the dining room. “Jinki, what are you doing?” Minho’s tone was perplexed.

“Hi Minho,” Taemin called. “He’s probably hiding so Digs won’t know he’s here.”

Key glanced up from the snuggly puppy cradled in his arms. “Digs?”

Taemin smiled and scrunched his nose, reaching out to scratch the puppy under his chin. “Yeah, apparently it was the only thing he’d answer to when they first got him. They said it was supposed to be just a temporary name, but I guess it stuck.”

“Your parents?” Kibum turned and walked to the couch. He began to lower himself onto it, just as Minho’s head popped out around the corner and he glared at Kibum. Kibum promptly took a step forward and settled down onto the floor.

“Oh, no. He’s not our dog.”

Kibum, Jonghyun, and Minho all stared at Taemin. Taemin seemed oblivious to the confusion they faced. Kibum took a deep breath before speaking.

“Wha…”

“Who’s dog is that???” Minho interrupted him. He’d stepped into the room now, and looked as if he didn’t know what to do. He seemed poised to somehow both grab the dog and run to the door, but also shake Taemin until he got a straight answer as well.

“He’s our neighbor’s. They’re on holiday for a week and I volunteered to watch him. Unfortunately,” His gaze fell from Minho’s face to the puppy gently nibbling Kibum’s fingers, “he only seems to like Jinki.”

“Well, who doesn’t?” Jonghyun chuckled as he crouched down next to Kibum to rub the puppy’s belly. Taemin pouted, prompting Jonghyun to continue. “I didn’t mean only liking Jinki… I meant that everyone likes him.”

“Yeah, I know everyone does.” Taemin continued to pout. “Speaking of which, Jinki, Mom wanted me to tell you something.” Taemin headed into the dining room, as if he knew the way himself, with Minho trailing behind him. Momentarily, he paused and looked to Kibum. Kibum looked slowly back up at him.

He knew what it looked like to Minho. Kibum, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the living room, cradling a puppy, while Jonghyun, a person Minho was still hesitant about, crouched almost uncomfortably close (at least from Minho’s stand point) to Kibum. Kibum knew Minho was unsure if his friend was okay with this, especially alone.

Kibum smiled cutely up at his best friend, raising his shoulders and wiggling slightly his arms to show his excitement over this little creature. He hoped the gesture also relayed to Minho that he was okay. In response, Minho smiled and rolled his eyes before leaving the room.

“You two are weird.” Jonghyun’s voice was fairly close to the younger’s ear, and it held a melody in it that almost sent a shiver down his spine.

Kibum looked back down at the puppy as it now struggled slightly to be put on the floor. “What do you mean?”

“You just gave him the okay to leave you alone with me.” He said it as a statement. Kibum kept his eyes on the dog. He saw Jonghyun tilt his head slowly out of the corner of his eye, the older man’s gaze fixed on Kibum’s face. “Didn’t you?”

Kibum shrugged. “If that’s what you want to think.”

Jonghyun chuckled and shifted slightly. “Do you mind if I sit next to you?”

Kibum shrugged again. “Do whatever you want. Hey hey, don’t bite my sleeves!” The puppy raced away across the room, then zoomed back, tugging on whatever bit of Kibum’s clothes it could reach. Kibum laughed and ruffed up the pup’s fur a bit.

A hand traveled into his view, and he watched as Jonghyun smoothed the fabric of his sleeve. Their skin didn’t touch, but Kibum was careful not to move either. He realized he didn’t mind Jonghyun touching him like this, but he didn’t want to move suddenly and make the older boy think he’d upset him. If Kibum was mad, he was quite sure Jonghyun would know immediately. But still, he didn’t want him to think he’d overstepped any boundaries. After a few more seconds, the sleeve was as smooth as possible, and it seemed Jonghyun couldn’t think of an excuse to keep doing that, so the older boy’s hand went back to his own lap.

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” Jonghyun spoke quietly. Even as he said it, Kibum could feel the older boy shift his body a little further away.

“Believe me, if I don’t like what you’re doing,” Kibum turned and looked Jonghyun fully in the eye for the first time that evening, “you’ll know.”

As his words settled between them, Kibum saw it, again. It was faint, but that little golden glow was there. He let himself really focus on it this time. It seemed to be almost a three dimensional golden haze that flowed outward from his pupils and into the deep brown of his irises. He was sure if he looked long enough and hard enough, the glow would travel across Jonghyun’s whole being until the whole of his body radiated this light. What in the world was it, though?

“I really like when your eyes do that.” Jonghyun’s voice was barely a whisper, but it jolted Kibum out of his thoughts.

“My eyes??”

Jonghyun inhaled to speak.

“I told you, Taemin, I’m fine.” Jinki suddenly stormed into the room, followed extremely closely by Taemin.

“I only said it because Mom said it. She thinks you won’t listen to her.”

“No offense, but she thinks I’d listen to you?”

“Honestly, that’s literally the first thing I said when she told me.” Taemin threw himself down on the couch behind Kibum and grabbed the older boy by the shoulders. He pulled him back and draped his arms around the seated boy, resting his chin on top of Kibum’s head and hugging the older boy towards himself. Kibum was so startled, he didn’t even react, other than a confused expression.

Taemin continued. “She just thinks that you already have a lot on your plate and she doesn't want you to get overwhelmed. You’re already tutoring Minho, right? And doing school, and coaching, and checking on me constantly, and she thinks if you add any more…”

“Taemin, I understand what you and your mom are saying,” Onew stood in the middle of the room now, arms crossed and completely focused on Taemin, not even noticing the puppy now jumping at his lower leg. “But seriously, I’m fine. I can take care of myself. I appreciate the concern, but you really don’t need to worry about me.”

Minho was standing at the dining room door, looking concerned. “Jinki, if you’re adding more to your schedule, you know you don’t have to tutor me anymore. I’m doing well in my classes now, and,” his gaze shifted to Kibum for a moment, “if I need any help, which I won’t, because you’ve done such a good job, I can ask Kibum.”

Jinki’s gaze fell to the floor and he took a deep breath. “Minho, I’m fine. I don’t want to stop tutoring you. I promise, it won’t be a problem. Everything is fine. Someone please get this dog off of me.”

Jonghyun reached forward and scooped the puppy up, scratching it behind the ears. No one spoke. Only Minho looked at Jinki now. The tension in the air was almost painful.

“Please stop worrying about me, guys. I absolutely promise, if I get even close to overwhelmed, I’ll drop the online class I’m starting.”

“I’m sorry I brought it up,” Taemin hugged Kibum close to himself, and Kibum squeezed the younger’s forearm. From his quiet tone, it was obvious that it had been out of genuine concern, and not just a teenager tattling on his cousin.

“I know, Taem, I’m not upset. Just…trust me, okay?” Jinki’s tone was so gentle in response that the whole room seemed to soften and everyone relaxed.

The puppy struggled violently in Jonghyun’s grasp, desperate to get back to his favorite person. “Why does this guy like you so much???” Jonghyun couldn’t keep his grasp any more and Digs scrambled over to Jinki’s side again.

Jinki took a deep exhale through his nose and let it out slowly. “I do not know. Out of everyone at our house, I pay the least attention to him.” He carefully stepped over the puppy and seated himself on the couch beside Taemin. Digs followed close behind, attempting to jump onto the couch as well, but failing.

Kibum smiled and scooped the puppy up again. “He’s so cute. I don’t know how you can resist him.”

Jinki cocked his head to the side and looked at Digs. “He’s definitely cute. I’m just not much of a dog person, I guess. I’d like something I can coexist with, without all the neediness.”

Kibum scoffed. “Good luck, then. With Minho has your partner, you’re gonna have more than you’d ever want of neediness.” He grinned at Minho, who smirked back in return.

Jinki chuckled as well. “Actually, if any of us has a puppy for a partner, it’s you. Just look at Jonghyun. He even has puppy eyes.” Kibum looked at Jonghyun, who scrunched his nose playfully at him.

“Yeah, well, if that’s true,” Kibum got to his feet, handing the puppy to Jonghyun, “then it’s lucky I am a dog person.” He headed to the door of the dining room, pausing at the door to look at his soulmate again. “Come on, bring the puppy, I’ve gotta finish this math. The parents will be home soon and I want to be done before dinner.”

Jonghyun scrambled to his feet and hurried to the door, a silly grin on his face that made the other three boys in the room chuckle. “I guess I’ll just have to admit that he’s really becoming enamored with Bummie.” Minho settled onto the couch next to Jinki, leaning into his shoulder smoothly.

“I told you, Jonghyun is incredibly loyal. Once he decides he likes you, that’s it. You don’t get a choice anymore.” Jinki smiled to himself. “Oh right!” Jinki jumped to his feet and hurried into the dining room. “Kibum, let me show you what I did about that math problem.”

.....................

20 minutes later, Kibum closed his books, a neatly folded paper within detailing Jinki’s instructions to him on how to explain the mistake in the book to the teacher. He stood from the table and headed to the door to go home. Jinki, Jonghyun, and Taemin all stood waiting for him, Jinki finally holding the now completely relaxed dog.

“Ready?” Jinki smiled at him and he nodded in response. “Alright, we’re leaving now, Minho. I’ll text you when I get home.”

“Okay, be safe, “Minho held the door open for them. “Oh wait…”

They all turned to him with curious expressions. He smiled and held up his hands, forming a box with his index fingers and thumbs. “Click” he says. He pretended to turn the invisible camera around to show them. “What do you think?”

“Ah, it’s no good. I blinked!” Kibum feigned annoyance.

“Too bad. I’m keeping it forever.” Minho playfully tapped his head. “Alright, see ya.”

Kibum, Jonghyun, and Taemin turned to leave, but Jinki didn’t move. His mouth was open and he was taking in slow, but deep and even breaths, and staring at Minho with this odd expression.

“What?” Minho asked, puzzled.

“I just…” Jinki shook his head slightly. “No it’s nothing. I’ll call you when I get home.” He reached out and touched Minho’s jaw lightly with the back of his fingers before turning and quickly heading out into the evening. Kibum and Minho looked back and forth between each other and Jinki for a moment before Kibum shrugged and followed the eldest out. He didn’t go down the sidewalk like the others, though. Instead, he opted to simply cross the grass right over to his own house.

At his door, he turned to wave goodbye to the other boys. They stood at the end of the path to his door. Jinki and Taemin smiled and waved, but Jonghyun seemed to look hesitant. After a few seconds of what seemed like an internal struggled, he sighed and waved as well. They continued on down the sidewalk and Kibum headed inside. Ten seconds later, as he set his books down on his desk in his room, his phone buzzed.

            Jonghyun: “If you need anything, I’m always available.”

Kibum smiled and tapped out his response.

                                                       Kibum: “Just text me when you get home.”

             Jonghyun: “<3”

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A/N: I know it's been a really long time since I updated this. I promise, it's always on my mind and I have no intention of quitting. I just started my very last term of college and that ends June 28. I just want you guys to know that I haven't forgotten and I love you guys so much. Thank you for continuing to support me and this work!